Weekly Newsletter

Asylum Seeker Successfully Appeals Deportation

The Reykjavík District Court has overruled The Directorate of Immigration’s decision to deport an asylum seeker without processing his case, Mbl reports.

The District Court believes The Directorate of Immigration insufficiently investigated the Nigerian national Samuel Eboigbe Unuke’s case, given the threat to his life if deported. He was to be sent back to Sweden, a country that denied him asylum, and would, Unuke believes, deport him to Nigeria.

In 2011 alone 13 out of 73 asylum seekers were granted asylum in Iceland, according to the Icelandic Human Rights Centre. In March of this year there were 149 asylum seekers in Iceland, and the town of Reykjanes has stopped accepting any more, Rúv reports.

Unuke fled Nigeria, fearing for his life, after getting embroiled in politically motivated MEND (Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta). He was initially responsible for rallying students to protest, but was then asked to conduct immoral rites of passage, including kidnapping.

After escaping vicious assaults by MEND who suspected him being a turn coat, Unuke is certain deportation would be a death sentence for him.

At the Reykjavík District Court, the Icelandic state denied that deporting Unuke to Sweden would be the same as sending him to Nigeria.

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